1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to data processing. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for processing electronically stored information for electronic discovery.
2. Description of the Related Art
The discovery of material to be exchanged among parties as part of the discovery process during litigation can provide significant challenges, particularly with respect to electronically stored information (ESI). Court rules require parties to discover and exchange “all responsive documents”. Discovery of ESI is sometimes referred to as “e-Discovery”. Searching ESI is challenging due to the use of natural language text, private codes, sub-cultural differences in vocabulary, spelling mistakes, etc. Various search and retrieval techniques, such as keyword searches, Boolean searches, and even fuzzy searches, have proven to be severely inadequate due to the vague and imprecise (for searching) nature of the contents of the ESI. Information available during search query preparation is often inadequate (e.g., unknown custodians, keywords, phrases, code words, important dates, synonyms, etc.), which makes the task of creating a “sufficiently inclusive” search query difficult. This is despite the fact that the search queries and/or keywords are often mutually agreed upon between opposing parties in a litigation (e.g., during a “Meet and Confer”).
Search queries may result in a large number of false positives and/or false negatives. False positives refer to irrelevant material that is nonetheless returned as a result to a search query that is not formed to retrieve such material. False negatives refer to relevant material that is not returned as a result to a search query that is formed to retrieve such material. False positives result in a high cost of recall and review of the returned material. False negatives result in responsive and relevant documents being un-collected and un-reviewed from various data sources. False negatives also force more time consuming iterations of the e-Discovery process and can prevent parties from demonstrating “reasonableness of efforts” and expose them to varying levels of legal consequences by the Courts.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art for a method and apparatus for processing electronically stored information for electronic discovery that overcomes the aforementioned deficiencies.